Impact of Road Environment on Drivers’ Preference to Merging Location Selection in Freeway Work Zone Merging Areas

Table 2

Variable assignments and explanations of factors influencing drivers’ preference to choosing merging behavior in work zones.

No.	Influence factors	Variables	Assignments and explanations
1	Road conditions	x1	Road alignment = 1; number of closed lanes = 2; closed length = 3
2	Road alignment conditions	x2	Straight line segment = 1; horizontal curve segment = 2; longitudinal slope segment = 3; curve slope combination segment = 4
3	Traffic environment conditions	x3	Traffic volume and its composition = 1; work zone location = 2; work zone layout = 3; traffic organization and control measures = 4
4	Traffic control signs	x4	Construction sign = 1; speed limit sign = 2; merging guidance sign = 3
5	Speed conditions	x5	Speed difference with front vehicle = 1; speed difference with front side vehicle = 2; speed difference with rear vehicle = 3; speed difference with rear side vehicle = 4
6	Speed limit strategies	x6	Single-speed limit method = 1; repeated speed limit method = 2; hierarchical speed limit method = 3